It’s funny. To me, anyway. Not laugh-out-loud funny or anything, just a little chuckle funny. When a Friday Night Dinner is looming, and I have Mini-Me and The Hubs coming over for my latest tasty low carb concoction, I pore over cook books and scour the internet, lie in bed mulling over ideas at 2 am, write shopping lists, worry about whether there’ll be enough food, and whether the recipe will work, and whether it will taste good. And I’ll come up with a Plan B (and sometimes a Plan C) in case Plan A (and then Plan B) goes sideways at the eleventh hour. Then, once Friday night arrives, I’ll spend hours in the kitchen cooking, along with a large dollop of worrying. When it involves guests I take this cooking lark very seriously, you know, when all I really had to do was whip up Prawns with Leeks and Lemon Pepper like I do when I’m home alone and have prepared absolutely nothing.
So earlier this week I did all the poring and scouring, the mulling and writing and worrying. On Thursday night Mini-Me let me know that Friday Night Dinner would be impossible because of the *huge* project she is finishing up. So, given that there was now no Friday Night Dinner, I didn’t go grocery shopping. And Friday night I did what I normally do when I am flying solo and need an impromptu plate of food – I stood in front of the ‘fridge, flung the doors open wide and peered inside. After 23 seconds or so of staring, I gathered a few items from whatever was lurking within and threw dinner together. I ad-libbed, if you will. Pretty much how I do on those podcasts. No recipe, no plan, no preparation. It was a 10 minute meal from ‘fridge to finished, made with whatever I had on hand. I do this all the time when I am home alone.
Here’s the result of last night’s last minute romp through the ‘fridge. Prawns with Leeks and Lemon Pepper.
Prawns with Leeks and Lemon Pepper. So fast, so tasty, so filling, so healthy.
Now why I can’t I just do that when Mini-Me and The Hubs are coming over?
- 1 TBSP coconut oil
- 1 large leek, sliced
- 4 oz / 110g mushrooms, sliced
- 12 oz / 335g prawns, pre-cooked, de-veined, tail-off
- 1/3 cup / 3 fl oz. unsweetened Greek yoghurt (DO NOT USE non-fat! It will not work!)
- Juice of half a lemon
- Lemon pepper
- Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet.
- Saute the leeks gently over a medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until the leeks are tender.
- Add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the prawns and heat through.
- Add the Greek yogurt to the skillet and toss the prawn mixture until it is evenly coated in yogurt.
- Stir in the lemon juice.
- Season liberally with fresh ground lemon pepper and spoon onto plates.
EdThat looks pretty darn good for being just thrown together!
carrieIt was so tasty, too! Thanks for swinging by, Ed.
DawnHi Carrie – I live in Asia with no access to greek yogurt! :( Any suggestions for a substitute? Thanks!
carrieDawn – that is an awesome question! Thank you for bringing it up and sharing your situation – it helps to be made aware of the different challenges you face. Assuming you can buy regular yoghurt, you can easily make your own Greek yoghurt.
Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strained_yoghurt
Claire LucasI LOVE this recipe, as does my boyfriend. It’s become a regular for me, I make it at least once a week. So easy to throw together after a long day. Thanks again Carrie.
carrieI love this one too, Claire – one of my favorites. It has leeks in and takes 3 minutes :-) JB loves it because it is seafood – one of the best sources of protein around.
Claire LucasWell that’s great to hear! I don’t eat meat so rely very heavily on seafood, fish and Greek yoghurt.
LindseyOh my goodness, this is by FAR the best SANE recipe I’ve made yet. Thank you for this wonderful creation!
carrieThis is one of my favorites too, Lindsey!
SerenaWhy did my yogurt congeal?? I used 2%milkfat?
carrieHi Serena – I would imagine that it was either too hot or heated for too long. It would have tasted great still, just not looked so pretty :-(
SarahWas a bit dubious about the coconut oil, and don’t get me wrong, I often use coconut oil when cooking Thai dishes, but it added a very strange taste to this dish, not great….
carrieSarah – that is so weird. Maybe it’s a brand thing (like olive oil) where they all taste a bit different. I cannot taste the coconut oil at all with the brand I use.
Serena Hunt, RDN CDNThanks Carrie! It did taste delicious, but definitely not pretty like yours! I’ll be more careful of the temp next time :)
carrieSerena – glad you still enjoyed the flavor!
CherylCarrie – what brand of coconut oil do you use? Last week, I made your Leek, Mushroom and Cauliflower Casserole. I ordered the Konjac flour from Amazon. I bought wonderful extra mature Taw Valley cheddar. The sauce was gorgeous and silky smooth but all I could taste was the coconut oil! I ended up throwing it out because to me it tasted like suntan lotion. I’ll try it again this week but I’ll sautee the veg in olive oil.
I think I can use the coconut oil for baking where I don’t mind the coconut flavor but it wasn’t nice with cheddar cheese.
BTW, I live in London (opposite of you, I’m an American expat in the UK).
carrieCheryl – I use Trader Joe’s. I am learning that different brands do have a different level of coconut taste. I cannot taste Trader’s coconut oil in cooking at all. I suggest you shop around until you find one that works. In the meantime use butter for cooing, not olive oil. Hope that helps!
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LindaI just wanted to say that I love your recipes – I just tried the prawns and leek dish last night for a party I was having – the only thing I did wrong was I cooked it too early and then stuck it in the oven to stay warm. I put the yogurt on just before serving so that was ok but the Prawns were a little tough when served. I should have just done the cooking right before serving I bet it would have been even nicer!
I did have one person who can’t eat dairy so I just saved some of the dish for her before adding yogurt. Probably could have used some coconut cream instead I guess but she didn’t complain.
Thanks again.
ScottRegarding “full-fat greek yogurt”, I’m so confused!
I’ll admit I’m a brand new reader of your site (tho likely an immediate fan), but you mention full-fat greek yogurt in many places.
Do you make your own? If not, what do you look for in what you buy?
I ask because the store-bought greek yogurt all seems to include sugar, pretty much a “no-no” in the world of ketogenic eating, and especially in a case like when used in a savory recipe, totally unneeded.
What is your source for full-fat greek yogurt without sugar? Inquiring minds (well, one at least) wants to know!
carrieHi Scott – full fat Greek yogurt might say whole milk or something similar on it, instead of full fat. Almost all yogurt has some sugar added to allow for fermentation, but around half of it is digested by the bacteria. You want to look for the Greek yogurt with the highest fat % and the lowest sugar %. Hope that helps!